NEWS

On Tuesday, August 7th, BP Oddo joined with staff at Richmond University Medical Center to cut the ribbon on the hospital’s new cardiac rehab facility. Cardiac rehab is a medically supervised program consisting of exercise training. It is recommended for patients who have had a heart attack, bypass surgery, heart failure, and other cardiovascular disease. RUMC’s cardiac rehab will also include educational programming on maintaining a healthy diet, smoking cessation, pulmonary rehab, and other services.

There has been no cardiac rehab facility on Staten Island for several years, forcing recovering heart patients to go to other boroughs or New Jersey for this important service. The initial request to open a cardiac rehab on Staten Island came out of one of BP Oddo’s Heart Health Roundtables in 2016. BP Oddo then worked with those in the health and wellness community to turn this idea into a reality.

To get the programs up and running, BP Oddo allocated $250,000 of taxpayer money to both of the hospitals to start their own cardiac rehab programs. Staten Island University Hospital opened up their own cardiac rehab facility in June.

BP Oddo said, "Two years ago, we had no such facility on Staten Island, and now we have two serving our borough. This the most recent example of how good things happen when we put people in a room at Borough Hall, and we have fierce conversations."